Land Use Planning

The public lands and federal mineral estate administered by the Worland Field Office are located in two planning areas managed in accordance with separate RMPs: the Grass Creek RMP and the Washakie RMP.

Grass Creek RMP

The Grass Creek Resource Management Plan (RMP) was completed in September 1998. One modification action was completed in 2001 to provide for minor word changes in the Grazing Appendix.

Location

Covers 968,000,acres of public surface and 1,171,000 acres of federal mineral estate.

All public lands are open for leasing, exploration, and development of oil and gas with standard stipulations. Additionally, areas which will be open to leasing with no surface occupancy stipulations include about 20,200 acres in areas of special resource values.

Plan Decisions

Decisions made in the 1998 Grass Creek RMP focused on the following categories:

Rangeland Management

Mineral Leasing, Oil & Gas

Recreational Uses

Wild & Scenic Rivers Recommendations

ACEC Designation

Habitat Management

Forest Management

Mineral Location

Cultural Values

Fire Management

Salable Minerals

Soil, Water & Air Management

Washakie RMP

The Washakie Resource Management Plan (RMP) was completed in September 1988. The RMP was amended in 1997 to designate the Big Cedar Ridge Fossil Plant ACEC and in 1999 to designate the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite ACEC. It has also been maintained on two occasions to clarify the fire suppression terminology and to incorporate healthy rangeland standards and guidelines.

Location

Covers 1.23 million acres of public surface and 1.6 million acres of federal mineral estate

All public lands not closed are open for leasing, exploration, and development of oil and gas with standard stipulations. Areas closed to leasing are the 11,200 acres included in the Spanish Point Karst ACEC; a no surface occupancy stipulation is being used on 86,100 acres to protect important wildlife habitat and cultural and recreation sites.